West speaks

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Son of Doohan @ Oct 24 2008, 12:29 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Why not? The kawasaki's a piece of .... and it deserves to be trashed. You'll never know whether he's up to standard riding that bike. I'm glad he said what he has, even though kawasaki will take no notice. They're a massive corporation who haven't put near enough into their effort to produce a race winning machine.
Kawasaki suck and I expect Melandri and Hopper to be right at the back again next season. If they weren't putting money into their effort when the world economy was pumping along, I hardly think they're going to put in the effort next year when the world economy turns to .....
At least West will be winning races next year in a series that is highly contested.
i agree, im not holding a lot of hope for marco or hopper next year either. im not sure westy is really motogp quality but i do think he is better than his results show. anybody who can ride as fast as he can in the wet has tallent. westy needed a good team and mentor behind him so that he could learn and work his way up.
i guess not everybody gets the oppitunitys

I like Hopper and Malandri as riders and I really hope the best for them next year. But the truth is Kawi is worthless i have a canondale i can peddle faster on. im pretty sure they droped some big bucks on marco and hopper instead on giving it to them they should have spent it on devolping the bike. Kawi is the biggest joke in sportbikes i think if harley davidson had a factory moto gp team they would finish ahead of them. What they need to do is steal an m1 and paint it booger green maybe then theyll have a chance. I leave by sayin Respect is earnd never given so kawi step it up and earn your respect with some decent results. and for those of you on kawis WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!

Hes still last in the championship if you take out the three wild card riders.

Hopper was out a good while too.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (kosy @ Oct 23 2008, 07:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>you are all a bunch of girls who seem to just not like riders because of the shoes they where rather than have anything useful to say.

If you all go by performance and not look at the bigger picture then Melandri is by a long way the worst ride in MotoGP just because he's coming last on a bike that wins races by another ride, do you seriously think Melandri will do any better than West/Hopkins on the same bike...NO. He'll look crap again next year.

As for West, he is a good rider on a crap bike period...the only positive from it for him was he lived the dream if only for one year.
Maybe this has changed but I know there used to be a few on this forum who had some first hand experience with Westy and it wasn't pretty. He has a reputation for being a whiner. And the fact that he's not done much since joining MotoGP. But I am a fan of his.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (The California Kid @ Oct 23 2008, 09:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I like Hopper and Malandri as riders and I really hope the best for them next year. But the truth is Kawi is worthless i have a canondale i can peddle faster on. im pretty sure they droped some big bucks on marco and hopper instead on giving it to them they should have spent it on devolping the bike. Kawi is the biggest joke in sportbikes i think if harley davidson had a factory moto gp team they would finish ahead of them. What they need to do is steal an m1 and paint it booger green maybe then theyll have a chance. I leave by sayin Respect is earnd never given so kawi step it up and earn your respect with some decent results. and for those of you on kawis WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!
They aren't that bad. Harley Davidson couldn't figure out Superbikes with arguably the best Superbike riders to race in the US in the 90s (Duhamel and Russell) and using the same configuration they've used on every bike to roll out of their ...... factory. HD couldn't get anywhere near competitive in any series which required turning, no significant advantages or allowed other manufacturers to compete.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (The California Kid @ Oct 24 2008, 03:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I like Hopper and Malandri as riders and I really hope the best for them next year. But the truth is Kawi is worthless i have a canondale i can peddle faster on. im pretty sure they droped some big bucks on marco and hopper instead on giving it to them they should have spent it on devolping the bike. Kawi is the biggest joke in sportbikes i think if harley davidson had a factory moto gp team they would finish ahead of them. What they need to do is steal an m1 and paint it booger green maybe then theyll have a chance. I leave by sayin Respect is earnd never given so kawi step it up and earn your respect with some decent results. and for those of you on kawis WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!
now your being silly

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JohnnyKnockdown @ Oct 24 2008, 09:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Where's Antfan been hiding.
I have a theory that Antfan was actually Ant West.
Does anyone really believe that Ant West has actually 1 fan out there besides his mum.

Ant should be thanking Kawi for 2 things.
First for plucking him out of obscurity to become a motogp rider which will undoubtedly open doors for him in the future.
Secondly for firing his ... so he could go back to racing again


As soon as he gets out of motogp where he never belonged I'm his biggest supporter. They guy jumped on a 600 and kicked arse. Wet and dry wins and Kenan must have near shat his dacks (then reflexively sucked it back up) when he joined the 600 grid and then left so quickly.

He was on a competitive bike

He seemed to win with the utmost ease, and he showed that in that crowd he was truly the business.

Kawasaki had better pick it up, or they will kill Marco and Hopper in the blame game.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Andy Roo @ Oct 24 2008, 11:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Kawasaki had better pick it up, or they will kill Marco and Hopper in the blame game.
5m bucks to be a fall guy - I'd settle for that

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JohnnyKnockdown @ Oct 24 2008, 09:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Where's Antfan been hiding.
I have a theory that Antfan was actually Ant West.
Does anyone really believe that Ant West has actually 1 fan out there besides his mum.


I'm a Ant West fan, and I certainly am not his mother.

I think Westy was unfortunate enough to have been offered something by Kawasaki. Don't get me wrong, I loved the fact that he made it back in to Moto GP but honestly when you've been fighting .... 250 bikes for many years as if you wouldn't accept any type of Moto GP offer.

I for one can't wait for WSS next year, Westy will kick .... And well, I hope, all the anti Ant fans will have to eat their own words lmao

On another hand West is a dumb ..... You never burn your bridges like he just did. You think Kawasaki is going to wake up because of a few comments that Westy made. IMO it hurt him a lot to say those things. He should have just said thanks for the time and the opportunity, I want to thank my team for the hard work and I am sorry to them that we couldn't get the results...etc.
[/quote]
And as the well recounted story goes, someone said prior to the 1979 MCN awards, 'Bazza if you wear that Yamaha shirt tonight it'll be the most expensive T Shirt you ever owned" - they were of course spot on, thereon forever ostracized from Suzuki, Sheeny struggled on customer inferior machinery receiving at best semi works parts for the rest of his career. The moral being, Japanese factories never forget...unless of course you ride for HRC and deliver them the 2006 World Championship

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Arrabbiata1 @ Oct 25 2008, 09:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>On another hand West is a dumb ..... You never burn your bridges like he just did.

He is so Australian.

Having a spray (shooting off ones mouth) is celebrated. I believed I posted around the time of the Olympics that the Sydney Daily Telegraph was having a "best spray" competition for which Aussie athlete could open their mouth and show as little tact and diplomacy as possible. Cringe worthy becomes funny (after you embrace it), and Westy has just elevated himself in the national ethos. I just wish Chris would have one decent spray, he is pissed off about something, he has to be.

The other thing people may not know about Westy is he was quite a good boxer. He and Gabor Talmasci (sp?) are the accredited pugilists in the field.

So he copped one too many knocks to the head.

If Westy was smart and hiding those smarts he would know now that he’ll never run in motogp again. His future is in WSBK and I predict in two years he’ll grace a Ducati. He and Kawasaki are finished and their racing worldwide in every class is .....

They should have bought him coke and hookers and put him on a 600 because he is (would have been) the only chance they have (had) at getting a title any time soon.

The 08 ZX10R was named bike of the year by several different publications. Out horsepowered the other Jap bikes by 5 to 8 hp. Hacking is the only AMA rider to finish within eyesight distance to either Spies or Maladin. I'd like to see what Burgess and Rossi could do on the Kawi with a half a season under their belt. This is really only the 2nd full year with a concerted effort in AMA SB. Both Haydens had partial years in the past with many injuries. This year too for Rog. With all that being said, I do believe the factory MotoGP effort is severly lacking effort and funds.

Kawasaki's form has been inconsistent throughout their motogp effort so its difficult to say what the riders are gonna get next year. West's disappointment is understandable though considering this is their worst season since 03 and 07 was their best ever. I guess Hopper and Melandri just have to have hope (not Melandris strong point recently).

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ingjr @ Oct 24 2008, 11:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The 08 ZX10R was named bike of the year by several different publications. Out horsepowered the other Jap bikes by 5 to 8 hp. Hacking is the only AMA rider to finish within eyesight distance to either Spies or Maladin. I'd like to see what Burgess and Rossi could do on the Kawi with a half a season under their belt. This is really only the 2nd full year with a concerted effort in AMA SB. Both Haydens had partial years in the past with many injuries. This year too for Rog. With all that being said, I do believe the factory MotoGP effort is severly lacking effort and funds.

I would hate to see Rossi demoted to such a wreck of a bike. He could do a little more with it than most though.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Austin @ Oct 23 2008, 10:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Maybe this has changed but I know there used to be a few on this forum who had some first hand experience with Westy and it wasn't pretty. He has a reputation for being a whiner. And the fact that he's not done much since joining MotoGP. But I am a fan of his.


They aren't that bad. Harley Davidson couldn't figure out Superbikes with arguably the best Superbike riders to race in the US in the 90s (Duhamel and Russell) and using the same configuration they've used on every bike to roll out of their ...... factory. HD couldn't get anywhere near competitive in any series which required turning, no significant advantages or allowed other manufacturers to compete.

Yeah Guys I was being sarcastic i know HD cant even make a working cruiser let alone a high performance machine like a moto gp bike. maybe they should merge with kawi(lol) instead of buying MV augusta so much for those bikes too

Westy was stupid with this move...at least he should have waited till the end of this race.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (torro @ Oct 25 2008, 06:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Westy was stupid with this move...at least he should have waited till the end of this race.

Yeah, Kawasaki propably sabotaged his bike and that's why he was so slow today...

I'm looking forward to seeing West riding WSS next year. I like the guy, and if you look at the results he's not that much worse than Hopkins (who is pretty much the only rider in MGP to whom you can compare him to). Sometimes he's been better too.

Doug Chandler had a good run for them in AMA but they sure haven't been able to put anything much together on the pavement since then. I think Marco's got the skills, hope he can make it work.

On the dirt though they've had a hell of a run. Emig, Ricky, James and now Villapoto.

Interview with West at Superbike Planet, sounds as though everyone was pretty demoralised by the end of the season.
Hopefully Kawa will start listening to the riders a bit more, or they're never going to be competative.

First off......read this....

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2008/New+Nin...asaki+at+Sepang

Second.....if the Kawi was so bad, how did this happen?

http://www.cdnsuperbike.com/index.php?opti...&Itemid=198

Third....Having owned and tracked a 2005 ZX10R, I will agree that this bike was NOT the easiest to get dialed in....it took alot of work....but once I got the suspension set up (100% stock, btw) I posted lap times at Mid Ohio that would have made the field for the AMA Superbike weekend....this bike was notoriously difficult to setup.....I think that West was not up to the task of it but so far Melandri seems to like the bike and the direction Kawi is going with it......time will tell if Kawi is making headway on the chasis or not.....

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (machmanzx10r @ Nov 6 2008, 02:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>First off......read this....

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2008/New+Nin...asaki+at+Sepang

Second.....if the Kawi was so bad, how did this happen?

http://www.cdnsuperbike.com/index.php?opti...&Itemid=198

Third....Having owned and tracked a 2005 ZX10R, I will agree that this bike was NOT the easiest to get dialed in....it took alot of work....but once I got the suspension set up (100% stock, btw) I posted lap times at Mid Ohio that would have made the field for the AMA Superbike weekend....this bike was notoriously difficult to setup.....I think that West was not up to the task of it but so far Melandri seems to like the bike and the direction Kawi is going with it......time will tell if Kawi is making headway on the chasis or not.....

first link provided points to kawa rolling out a new bike for 2009. not much use to ant west is it?

second link is for the canadian superbike standings if i can decipher that correctly? what does that have to do with the Moto Gp effort?

thirdly, congrats on getting your zx10 so well dialled in. again, see 2nd point ..

i am confused by the relevance of this all?